Talk:EastEnders

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[edit] Possible sources

Tuesday's ratings: EastEnders lands punch against ITV1 anemone│projectors 22:48, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Number of episodes

Can we get this locked down? Thanks, --70.109.223.188 (talk) 17:22, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Meaning what, exactly? anemone│projectors 20:57, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

There hasn't been more than 4000 episodes so it's complete and utter rubbish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.98.81 (talk • contribs)

Thanks for that, but I think you are incorrect. If you work it out, there must be at least 4000. Actually, History of EastEnders doesn't record when it went to 3 and then 4 times a week, but those events occurred long enough ago to have since clocked up a significant number of episodes. Stephenb (Talk) 07:28, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Oh, hang on, its in the main article under "Scheduling": "EastEnders output then increased to three times a week, on 11 April 1994. EastEnders then added its fourth episode (shown on Fridays) on 6 August 2001". Simple maths should enable you to calculate that there must have been at least 4,000 episodes just from that. Stephenb (Talk) 07:32, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

There is even a article on episodes on here. In March 2007 it was up to the 3300s, so there's been well over 700 episodes since then has there? I would like to know where this 4,000 figure was plucked from in the first place. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.98.81 (talk) 11:13, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, the citation in the article (which unfortunately no longer works) was added on the 12th June 2007 by an editor called "Matthew". Although it was briefly disputed then, the number of episodes at that time was determined from an official BBC source. Since then, the numbers have been incremented as new episodes have been shown. That all said, I have some doubts about the original source myself, which is now unverifiable. And I have been doing some simple maths since I my last bold post, and I can't make 4000+ add up either. Would any other editors care to comment? Stephenb (Talk) 12:06, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

In the 2 eps per week days there would have been 100ish eps per year and so on. It doesn't quite add up to 4000. That article on here about the episodes is surprisingly accurateish. This is the closest that matches up with a complete archive of EastEnders episodes that I know is in existence. So it's impossible for there to be more than 4000 given this archive is complete. My issue is that the episode count is now nearer to 5000 which is very unrealistic. ITV soap Emmerdale is soon to celebrate its 5000th episode and it's been on 5/6 times a week for years. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.98.81 (talk) 12:12, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

I think we should remove it. Clearly we cant verify. We cant even use common sense to total the number, because there's been times when an episode is cancelled for whatever reason, or extra episodes are added or merged. Like Bianca's leaving week in 1999, where there was something like 6 episodes including an hour long one. For what it's worth, we know for certain that the 1,000th episode aired on 12 July 1994, Debbie and Nigel's wedding :) Gungadin 12:58, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
Also, I remeber during the 1990s sometime, they started to repeat EE from the beginning on the shitty "Good Morning with Anne and Nick". God knows how many episodes they showed, but these might not have been excluded in the count from the BBC programme catalogue.Gungadin 13:15, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

This list is okay and could be trusted but it's out of date now http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AnemoneProjectors/List_of_EastEnders_episodes It might not be 100% accurate but it's the nearest thing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.98.81 (talk) 14:45, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, that list is one out anyway, cos the 1000th episode is there as 11 July, when various sources say it was the 12, including an EE book I have and walford.net If it's not 100% accurate and we know it isn't, then I don't think we should be putting it in. Hopefully EE will do a big celebratory episode like Emmerdale is doing when they reach a certain number of episodes, which will be covered in the media. Or an official source will turn up that doesn't rely on us to do the calculations, then we can go on and count from there. Until then I dont think it should go in, but that's just my opinion. Gungadin 15:53, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

The funny thing is it did used to say 3000 something episodes which was nearer to what it actually is. But all of a sudden it jumped over a thousand episodes. If you change it back someone bursts a blood vessel so best to leave it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.98.81 (talk) 16:37, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Characters

hii dosnt Dot count as a character thats been there from the beginning? my dad says she does.--89.240.195.232 (talk) 22:23, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Your dad is not a reliable source. Dot first appeared on 4 July 1985 and the first episode was on 19 February 1985, so no, she doesn't count. You can tell your dad that. anemone│projectors 22:32, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Really? I must say I thought she was there in the beginning too. Fallowside (talk) 13:42, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Nope. You can see the book EastEnders: The Inside Story (among others) for how they developed and introduced the character Stephenb (Talk) 07:30, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
I remember watching the show from the start, and she was not in it initially. Then, suddenly, having maybe having missed one episode, there's this strange woman in the Queen Vic sipping an orange juice and chatting with Den as if they had always known each other. Dialogue noted that this was Nick's mother: Dot had been launched into the show as if she had always been there and was soon a main player in proceedings. Format (talk) 04:26, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
She was always mentioned as Pauline's colleague at the launderette; until she first appeared, around episode 40 IIRC, many people probably assumed she was never going to appear and be a running joke (rather like Mr Popadopoulis, who did eventually appear, only to be killed off some years later and his son, the next Mr Popadopoulis, then appeared!). When she appeared as Nick's mother, I was quite shocked! Stephenb (Talk) 16:10, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
The first Mr. Papadopoulos never appeared in the serial, but his son did. See Andonis Papadopoulos. -Trampikey(talk)(contribs) 16:42, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
Ooh, Wikipedia is wrong :) I distinctly remember the first one appearing for an episode or so back in the late eighties, I think. But of course, my memory is not citable :) Stephenb (Talk) 06:57, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

That's interesting that you say that. In your memory of him, is he a little bald man with greying sides, who looks kind of like Mohamed Al-Fayed? Because I have a memory of this Popodoppy snr too, but I was far too young when I saw the 80s episodes for my memory to be accurate. When i was trying to research the character, I noticed that walford web has him down as appearing in Jan 1990, but they also claim he was played by Lee Warner, who was the person who played Oppodoppy jnr. so that can't be right. In Jan 90, there was a lot of focus on the launderette, because Poppy sacked Dot, and then Marge made a petition and got her reinstated etc. But I've seen those episodes and I dont think poppy appeared, it all happened off-screen. Also, I asked someone who has all the 80s episodes, and was told they didnt think poppy snr ever appeared, so seeing as there was no evidence of snr appearing anywhere on line, I thought it was best not to say he did.Gungadin 11:46, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

He was bald, yes, thought I don't remember how tall he was. I *think* he was planning on closing the launderette down, and I'm pretty sure it was only one brief appearance. Can't swear to exactly when though, sadly. I have a few clippings from the eighties at home, which was when I was a really big fan, so I'll have a browse through if I remember tonight, he may be in a cast list... Stephenb (Talk) 11:59, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GA Sweeps (on hold)

This impressive article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force in an effort to ensure all listed Good articles continue to meet the Good article criteria. Although it is generally of a high standard, in reassessing the article I found a few issues that may need to be addressed:

  • Prose - this is pretty good, but the article contains a few short (one- or two-sentence) paragraphs that should really be merged into the surrounding text.
  • Factual accuracy - in Social realism there is an unattributed quotation (para 2) that absolutely needs a cite. The first paragraph is rather speculative and comes over as editor commentary, unless citations can be provided.
  • Links - there are a large number of dead or misdirected links in the article, many of them in references. I won't list them here, but running this tool will open a new window to display them.
  • I have used the tool to fix a lot of the links, but not all of them. anemone│projectors 23:38, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
  • The Fair-use rationales for some of the images may need looking at. Each use of the image needs a separate, detailed FUR; the template {{Non-free use rationale}} might be helpful here.
  • ISBNs would be useful for the books mentioned in the Further reading section
  • The External links section could do with trimming (for example, forums and fansites are not appropriate in an encyclopedia article). See WP:LINKS for more guidance.
    Y Done removed most, not sure if you meant to remove walford.net and walford gazette too, so i'm leaving them for now Gungadin 15:16, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Personally I think those two are fine - both are directly relevant to the article: Walford Gazette is mentioned in the article, and walford.net is a long-established site providing episode content. Great work, thanks! EyeSereneTALK 16:01, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Y Done ISBNs in Further Reading Stephenb (Talk) 16:20, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

I will check back in no less than seven days. If progress is being made and issues are addressed, the article will remain listed as a Good article. Otherwise, it may be delisted (such a decision may be challenged through WP:GAR). If improved after it has been delisted, it may be nominated at WP:GAN. Feel free to drop a message on my talk page if you have any questions, and many thanks for all the hard work that has gone into this article thus far. Regards, EyeSereneTALK 13:01, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Update

Thanks everyone for all the work so far. There's a couple of days left on the GA hold, but not all the above issues have been addressed. I think the main remaining areas of concern are the first few paragraphs of Social realism, and some of the prose. The image FURs would perhaps be best in template format, but I believe there's enough information on the image pages to comply with WP licensing policy (User:BetacommandBot hasn't objected yet at least!), so we'll put that aside for now. I'll wait until the hold period is up before final reassessment. Regards, EyeSereneTALK 09:29, 4 March 2008 (UTC)


Perhaps the first para in social realism should be chopped. It is unsourced, and you're right it does sound like editor commentary. I found this [1] which says: "EastEnders has generally carried a reputation for hard and gritty storylines. However it has generally remained a populist series and has generally avoided the even tougher storylines and dramatic heights of Brookside, which tackled issues in a more direct way. Brookside was decommissioned in 2003 after a twenty-year run, due to declining ratings. Brookside lead the way for more conservative soaps to follow: EastEnders, whilst gritty, required the creative input of Brookside's creators such as Mal Young to maintain its ratings."
But is that just a mirror of wiki, showing a much earlier version of this page? Strike that, it was from wiki, i just looked at the bottom of the page :) Gungadin 20:54, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
That may be the best solution. For now, I've cut the bit that comes over as original research; I'll leave it here:

EastEnders covers a multitude of different issues within its storylines. However, EastEnders has, for the most part, remained a populist series and has generally avoided the arguably tougher stories of Brookside. Brookside had also launched as a social realist drama, leading the way for more conservative soaps like EastEnders to follow. Arguably, the difference between them was that whilst Brookside confronted issues, it was more sensationalist and EastEnders tried to maintain realism.

I've also been through and tried to reduce the number of short paragraphs by merging them with their surroundings. I don't think this is always possible, depending on the content, but hopefully the article doesn't seem so fragmentary now. EyeSereneTALK 08:26, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GA sweep pass

Thank you all for your hard work! I've now passed EastEnders GA reassessment, and updated the templates at the top of the page. Nice work ;)

For future development, making use of the templates on WP:CITET for cites and references would help to format them all consistently - this would be a fairly major task though (!), and is not in any case a GA requirement. EyeSereneTALK 08:31, 7 March 2008 (UTC)